Passy Detox

So, in addition to the sickness-induced whining and lack of sleep that is blessing us lately, we decided to throw passy detox into the mix, too. All along, we have been planning to give the passys to Santa, and Saturday morning, I wrapped them up and Santa made a special early trip to bring Alden a stuffed bunny to snuggle when she misses them. That afternoon at naptime, she cried and asked for "pa-hees" over and over. I finally went in a laid with her until she fell asleep. That night, she did great, and fell asleep all by herself. She has requested them a few times in the past couple days, and we have had a few tears at bedtime, but overall, it has gone SO much better than I thought. However, it seems that Mommy has had to take the place of the passys, because she has been extra clingy...wanting to sit in my lap all the time, carry her around, and read to her. I don't mind any of those things, because it is fun to get a chance to snuggle her.

Hopefully, we are through the worst part. Now onto potty training...maybe when we get settled into the new house...which by the way, we found one and are closing on January 15th if all goes well! We are really excited!

On the Mend...Hopefully

We are finally starting to feel better. I took Hudson in to the doctor on Saturday morning after he was up most of the night because he was so mucus-y. The doctor did a test that said he was positive for RSV, and that there is nothing to do but wait it out. Basically, he is going to be snotty, coughy and miserable for 7-10 days. Merry Christmas. Obviously, that doctor didn't have kids because she didn't offer much sympathy or solutions. We have been liberally administering saline drops and running the vaporizer so that the room is like a rain forest that smells like Vicks. Luckily, today he seems much better and we have been getting more sleep the past few nights.

The rest of Saturday we lounged around and rested. Sunday, we had to skip church so as to not spread our holiday cheer. By yesterday, we were very ready to get out of the house, and went to the mall for an outing. Last night, we had an idea to drive out to see some lights in Wendell that were touted as a 30 minute choreographed light extravaganza. Well, Hudson screamed almost the whole way there, the lights were NOT impressive, and then, he screamed the whole way home. Lovely.

Today, I went to the barn to ride, and we went to the Cary mall for Alden to ride the Merry-go-Round. It has been so cold here that the mall seems like the only place to get out! There is one black horse that Alden loves and calls Black Beauty. She got off today, and starts talking about how in the book, "Black Beauty is scared of the Biiiiiggg fire!" How does she remember that? We haven't read that in months.

I was going to try to add pictures, but our computer just crashed while I was editing pictures. Patience, Patience. I will post some soon.

Sickies

We are all sick right now. Alden started with an off-and-on fever/respiratory thing the other day and Matt, Hudson and I were all trying to fight it off, too. This morning, I woke up to feed Hudson around 5 and had to sit in the bathroom for 15 minutes because I thought I might puke. Luckily, Mom was able to stay with me today and help with the kids and I got to rest some. Alden slept from 1:30-6:15 this afternoon, when my mom had to wake her up, and Hudson has been coughing and phlegmy. Matt has felt worse and worse all day, slept through lunch, and threw up at work. We are all headed to bed and hoping that our status improve so we can head to Aiken for the weekend.

Hudson Sits!

I have been a little out of commission. Sometime last week, I don't know if it started with kickboxing on Monday and was exacerbated by picking Alden up, but I hurt my back. Thursday and Friday I laid low and didn't do much at all. This was fortunate timing, however, because it was pouring rain, and we couldn't go out anyway. Two days was plenty of time, though, for me to realize that staying in the house for a whole day is hard!

Ashley has been working at a daycare/preschool in the afternoons and they had their Christmas program on Friday night. We took the kids, and Alden enjoyed watching "boys and girls singing!" Pop pop ran sound for the production, and let Alden play the drums afterwards.

Our evening was fun, and made me so thankful that I am able to stay home with Alden and Hudson. Of course, there are days that they drive me crazy, but seeing all those little kids that are at daycare all day made me so sad. It would break my heart to leave my two all day.

Saturday, Alden and Matt raked leaves, and we enjoyed some quiet time during naps. That night, we enjoyed an impromptu family night out to Chick-Fil-A. We decided to take the risk and go to Toys R' Us afterwards, with a warning to Alden that we would be looking, not buying, but that she could show us things that she would like Santa to bring her. Well, that ended up being almost everything in the store. She would point and yell, yes yell, "Santa, I get this for Christmas!" Some of her favorites were Diego, dinosaurs, and Thomas. Miraculously, we made it out without any tamtrums. Then, we went to REI and Alden tried out the Thermarests. She said she was camping.

Sunday, we went to church, and didn't have much time to do anything else around naps. Weekends just seem to fly by. We did indulge in the season finale of Survivor and were glad Bob won!

Today was a day that makes me just love North Carolina. After a week of cold, we had a beautiful day in the 70s. Alden had school, and then we played outside for a couple hours after lunch.

Alden was doing some "fishing" with a willow branch. She said she caught a "blue shark" and a "lobster."

Our big news lately is that Hudson is really sitting up by himself now for a minute

or two at a time. To celebrate, we let him try out the ring in the tub. He really liked it.

He is enjoying playing with toys, and starting to make little puppy noises when he wants to be picked up, or if we walk away from him. Matt was lifting him in the air the other day and he was giggling and squealing. He seems more animated and more talkative all the time.

Yesshh

I have to record some of our conversations lately...

**Alden (seeing some kind of Disney Princess something on TV): Mommy, Mommy, I want dat for Christmas!!
Mommy: Maybe you should ask Santa for it. (And thinking, thank goodness she is interested in something girly)
Alden: No, I don't think so. Mommy get it.

**Amber was talking about going to Chuck E Cheese sometime. Alden sounded interested in going, and I asked her what she was going to do there. She replies, " Play dodgeball, and play catch."
WHAT??? I don't think she has even HEARD of dodgeball?!?!??! And I know she has no idea what Chuck E. Cheese is about.

**My mom is a lactaction consultant, and Alden was looking through one of her books that was laying around. She turns to a page with breasts on it, and says, "oooo, scary boobies!" Then, she points to one of the nipples, and says,"Funny nose."

**Alden's latest thing is "YESSSHH." This is funny, and a nice change from all the "no's". We were driving Saturday night and the moon was HUGE. We stopped at a stoplight and could really see it. I asked her if she could see it, and she replies in a very bored, I-don't-care-kind-of-way, with her head leaning on the side of her carseat "yesshh." Matt asks if she thinks it's cool, and again, another bored "yesshh."

The Tinkerbell Sock Game

Alden and Hudson created their first game together today. Alden had one of her Tinkerbell socks, and would put it part way on her foot. Hudson would take it off. Alden put it back on, Hudson took it off...and so on and so on. Until Alden says, "I'm done now. No mo."

VIP Day

Last Wednesday was Alden's VIP day at school. Since all the kids have summer birthdays, they get a VIP day assigned to them instead. I got to go to music class with her, and brought iced cookies for snack time. Alden got to wear a crown, and said she looked "peety like a princess." It was fun to see the kids singing songs and playing with the sticks and instruments. All I can say is that their teachers are INCREDIBLY patient. They were talking about Christmas trees that day, so Alden showed me how she was decorating one of the little trees in their room.

I also got to see her making her art project for the day and she showed me the drying rack.